Types of Golf Courses: Par-3 to Private Clubs

The US has about 16,000 golf courses at about 14,000 facilities, a number that has held steady for five years, according to the National Golf Foundation (NGF). Here’s how to tell them apart.

By size: short courses to full length

Type	What it is
Pitch-and-putt	Very short holes, often under 100 yards. One or two clubs is enough.
Par-3 course	Every hole is a par 3, averaging at least 100 yards. Eighteen holes is a par 54.
Executive course	A shorter mix of par 3s and par 4s, maybe a par 5: par 65 or less, and 5,200 yards or less, for 18 holes.
Regulation course	The full-size course: a mix of par 3s, 4s and 5s, usually par 70 to 72, at least par 66 and 5,200 yards for 18 holes.
9-hole course	Any of the above with nine holes. Play it twice for 18, or post a 9-hole score for your handicap.

Short courses are the best place to start: cheaper, much quicker to play, and far less intimidating. There are more than 1,600 par-3 and executive courses in the US.

A driving range or a Topgolf-style venue is great practice, but it isn’t a golf course.

By who can play

Type	Who can play	What to expect
Municipal (“muni”)	Anyone	Owned by a city, county, state or park district. Usually the cheapest regulation golf around, often with resident rates.
Daily-fee	Anyone	Privately owned but open to the public. The most common kind in the US, from basic to high-end.
Semi-private	Members and the public	Sells memberships but also takes public tee times, usually with members getting the best ones.
Resort	Guests, often the public too	Part of a hotel or resort. Can be among the best courses you can play, at a price.
Private club	Members and their guests	Membership usually means an initiation fee plus monthly dues. Stricter dress codes, and often a clubhouse, pool and dining.
Military	Usually military members, retirees, families and guests	Courses on military bases; who can play varies by base.

At the start of 2024, the NGF counted 8,657 daily-fee courses, 2,939 municipal courses and 4,367 private courses in the US. Private clubs are about 28% of courses today.

Equity vs non-equity clubs: at an equity club the members own the club, and joining usually means buying a share. At a non-equity club a company or owner owns it, and members pay for the right to play.

By style

• Links: the original style, on sandy ground by the sea, mostly in Scotland, Ireland and England. Few trees, rolling ground, deep pot bunkers and wind. The Old Course at St Andrews is the classic example.
• Parkland: inland, with tree-lined fairways, lush grass, and man-made bunkers and ponds. Augusta National is one.
• Heathland: inland British courses on sandy soil with heather and gorse, more open than parkland.
• Desert: green fairways cut through desert, with sand and scrub everywhere else, common in Arizona, Nevada and Southern California.
• Mountain: big elevation changes; the ball also flies farther at altitude.
• Stadium courses: built to host tournaments, with room for crowds. The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is the best-known example.

The top of the line

Golf magazines rank the best courses. Golf Digest publishes America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses and a separate list of the 100 Greatest Public Courses. Most of the very top courses are private: the No. 1 on Golf Digest’s 2025–26 list is Pine Valley in New Jersey, a private club.

A few of the most famous courses are open to the public: Pebble Beach in California, Bethpage Black (a New York state park course, cheapest for New York residents) and the courses at Bandon Dunes in Oregon. Some others, like Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, are open to resort guests rather than everyone. Each has its own booking rules, so check the course’s site.

What’s the same everywhere

Every rated course, from a muni to a top private club, has a Course Rating and Slope Rating for each set of tees, so your handicap works the same way on all of them. See Course Rating and Slope. And the etiquette is the same too.